How do I change the name of a staff or instrument in the middle of a score?

• Aug 7, 2019 - 13:44

I have an SATB score. Each staff is labeled with the name of the part (Soprano, Alto etc.) In the middle of the piece, I need to add some additional parts, making it SSAATTBB. I would like to change the names of the original SATB staves at that point so they become Soprano1, Alto1 etc., but I can't see a way to change the name of a staff in the middle of the score. When I use Staff/Part Properties to change the name of the staff, it changes it for the entire score. Any ideas?

Thanks.
Tara


Comments

Starting with the next update what you tried (using staff properties) will work as expected, if you first add an "instrument change" element from the text palette. There may be other new controls as well.

Meanwhile, you have two alternatives. One is to not actually change the existing staff names, but to instead add all new staves, then use Format / Style / Score / Hide empty staves so only the staves being used at any given point are visible. The other is to add the instrument change as mentioned above, then use "Save As" to save your as MSCX instead or MSCZ, then open the resulting file in a text editor, find the instrument change, and alter the long and short names there.

Could you use the "Change Instrument" option [on the Text palette], but select the same instrument (Alto, e.g.), then use Staff/Part Properties (on some part of the staff after the change)(==> "Alto I") to edit how it is labeled? You'd also have to render the actual "Change to Alto" text invisible . . .

All in all, for choral scores with divisi sections, I've always used Marc's first suggestion--much simpler.

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